Samsung washing machine recall - my personal story

By Paul Muschick

The Watchdog|

Dec 02, 2016 | 4:01 PM

According to a federal class-action lawsuit, Samsung top-loading washing machines have exploded.

My washing machine is among the nearly 3 million under recall by Samsung because they could be an injury risk to users under certain circumstances. I had my repair yesterday and thought you'd be interested to know how it went.

If you're not familiar with the situation, Samsung voluntarily recalled 34 models of top-loading washers early last month due to reports highlighting that their drums may lose balance, triggering excessive vibrations and resulting in the top separating from the washer. This can occur when a high-speed spin cycle is used for bedding, water-resistant or bulky items.

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The Consumer Product Safety Commission said Samsung had received 733 reports of washing machines experiencing excessive vibration or the top detaching. There were nine reports of injuries including a broken jaw and injured shoulder.

The five main things you need to know about the recall can be found here.

My wife and I chose to have a technician reinforce our machine's top instead of requesting a rebate and going through the hassle of looking for a new washer. We scheduled the repair online shortly after the recall was announced and chose a repair date of Dec. 1, in the morning.

The process went smoothly, with a steady stream of information about the status.

I got an automated call and email the evening before, telling me a technician would arrive between 8 a.m. and noon, and that I would be contacted again the next morning with a better estimate of the actual arrival time.

Around 7:30 the morning of the repair, I received an email and call updating the arrival time to between 10:30 a.m. and 11:45 a.m.

At about 9:45 a.m., I received another email and phone call adjusting the arrival time to between 10:45 a.m. and noon.

That email also offered a link where I could look up my technician's name and see his photo. I didn't use that. The technician arrived at about 10:39 a.m., calling from his truck to let me know he had arrived. I didn't track exactly how long the repair took, but it couldn't have been more than 20 minutes, maybe less.

The technician popped the washer's hood and did what he had to do. I didn't watch so I can't tell you exactly what that was. He also applied a new sticker to the control panel to adjust the settings for safe use. I had received the sticker in the mail.

Our washer had been working fine before the recall, and we regularly wash bulky bedding items. I ran a load of clothing after the repair and didn't notice anything different.

Today, I received an automated follow-up call asking me to verify if the repair had been completed, which I did.

The only vague information in the process was how long the repair would take. The first email I received said it could take two to four hours, depending on the work necessary. The final one said it would take about 45 minutes.

I haven't heard complaints locally about the recall or repair process but if you run into one, let me know.